If you find yourself scratching your head each week wondering how you’ll ever keep up with all of the changes to your favorite social media platforms, you’re not alone. In fact, “change” very quickly emerged as the theme for this week’s weekly reads when we started digging in, particularly for Google+. Whether immediate or “coming soon”, the articles below outline some of the most significant changes announced just this week that you should be aware of both for your personal and professional social media use.
Google+
The Verge: Google+ Photos and Videos Updated With New Automatic Editing Tools, Search and Much More
With more than 540 million monthly active users, Google+ engagement is on the rise, in part due to the company’s recent emphasis on photos. This week Google announced some new features that allow photographers to organize, share, store and edit their images. Although the exact launch date was not announced, you can read more about the upcoming improvements in this helpful article.
Google: Google+ Expanding the Availability of Custom URLs
Custom URLs have become increasingly popular on a number of social platforms, and now Google+ is joining suit. If your Google+ profile meets certain criteria (e.g., has a profile photo, at least 10 followers, etc.), you can now claim a custom URL – just like Toyota did at plus.google.com/+toyota. Read this blog straight from Google for more information.
VentureBeat: Google+ Updates Hangouts With HD, Filters and More
Exciting news for marketing and PR professionals using Google Hangouts On Air: Google is adding planning, promotion and management features. Working together with Google+, a landing page can be created for marketing/PR purposes and you can boost posts’ visibility through the management user interface (UI). Also, the Hangout app now offers location sharing, animated GIFs and integration of SMS (aka text messaging) services.
Twitter Blog: Picture This: More Visual Tweets
Twitter timelines got a visual boost this week with previews of Twitter photos and Vine videos becoming more highlighted in tweets. In addition, Twitter added some reply, retweet and favorite functions that keep you from having to leave your timeline to interact. A quick Vine video in this short blog post gives an overview.
Fast Company: 7 Big, Recent Twitter Changes You Should Know About Before the IPO
It can be a real challenge to keep up with changes to the various social platforms – so thanks to Fast Company for compiling these exciting new changes to Twitter! From updates for iOS7 to optimizing for Android, offering Twitter Alerts for emergencies and scheduled tweets (for Twitter Ad users, at least!), Twitter has been busy gussying itself up in advance of its IPO.
CIO Journal/The Wall Street Journal: Facebook Tests Software to Track Your Cursor on Screen
Facebook collects two kinds of data: demographic and behavioral, and is looking to considerably up its behavioral data collection game in 2014. Although not yet confirmed, Facebook may track how users behave while on the platform – including nuances like where your cursor hovers or whether your newsfeed is displayed on your mobile device at any given moment. Read on for more insight, including how Facebook will use this new data.
